Lehr loader



April 5, 1966 A. T. zAPPlA ETAL LEHR LOADER Filed Feb. 24. 1965 60 Fig.

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ltige INVENTORS. ANTHQNY T. ZAPPm and BY MAYNARD O.BoueH, JR.

Nwawmm AHorne s April 5, 1966 A. T. zAPPlA ETAL LEHR LOADER 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 24. 1965 l//l//l/ll/l INVENToRs. ANTHONY T.ZAPPIA am BY MAYNARD O. BoueH,Jn.

wwww dwf Ahfgus United States Patent Oli lice 3,244,266 Patented pr. 5,1966 Ind.

Filed Feb. 24, 1965, Ser. No. 434,860 12 Claims. (Cl. 198-31) Thepresent invention relates to a mechanical movement whereby an elementmay be caused t-o travel in a polygonal path, said element main-taininga constant attitude throughout its travel, and pausing briey at eachangle of the polygon. The invention has been devised primar-ily fordriving a pusher bar in a lehr loader in which the pusher bar m-usttravel preferably rectilinearly at a relatively low level to push Warefrom an in-coming conveyor onto a belt travelling transversely withrespect to the incoming conveyor, must then be raised to a level abovethe tops of Ware moving on the incoming conveyor and, at an upper level,must be retracted, and then must be lowered to its starting point; andtherefore the invention has Ibeen illustrated and will be described inwhat we presently believe to be the optimum form for use in thatenvironment. However, it will be understood that the invention may haveuses in other environments and that, while the rectangular pathwayherein illustrated is believed to be optimum in the illustratedenvironment, the principle of the invention is not thus limited but maybe applied in environments in which other polygonal shapes such astriangles, pentagons, hexagons and the like may be advantageous.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a drive through whichrotary movement of an input element will cause an operated member Itotravel, in the manner above described, in a closed circuit ofpredetermined contour, without change of attitude.

Further objects of the invention will appear as the descriptionproceeds.

To the accomplishment of the above and related objects, `our inventionmay be embodied in the form illustrated in the accompanying drawings,attention being called to the fact, however, that the drawings areillust-rative only, and that change may be made in the specicconstruction illustrated .and described, so long as the scope of theappended claims is not violated.

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary top plan view of a lehr loader assemblyconstructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially on the line 22 of FIG. l and drawn to an enlarged scale;

FIG. 3 is a further enlarged fragmentary section taken substantially onthe line 3 3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of a corner of the trackway inwhich the travelling members are guided;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary elevation, taken substantially in the planeindicated by the line 2-2 of FIG. l, showing the same trackway cornerwith parts of a travelling member and its associated parts just enteringthe corner; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a motion transmitting arm whichconstitutes an element of the invention.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, it will be seen that wehave suggested a lehr apron or first con* veyor 10 which, as -is wellunderstood in the art, travels slowly and continuously into and througha lehr or oven (not shown) in which temperature is carefully controlled,for the purpose of annealing glassware. A second or incoming conveyor 11is conventionally arranged adjacent the input end of the conveyor 10',the upper run of the conveyor 11 traversing the upper run of theconveyor 10 at a level only slightly above the latter. The upper urn ofthe conveyor 11 moves either continuously or stepby-step across theconveyor 10, carrying -hot glassware 12 from the forming machine intothe relationship to the conveyor 10 indicated in FIG. 1. It isconventional to provide means periodically to sweep a rank of waretransversely from the Iconveyor 11 onto the conveyor 10; and variousm-ore or less complicated mechanisms for accomplishing that purpose havebeen used in the past.

The present invention provides improved, simplied and more effectivemeans for accomplishing that function.

The transfer mechanism as a whole is indicated generally by thereference numeral 13. It comprises, at each side of the conveyor 10, apair of upright, 14, 14 one Iof which is disposed alongside the conveyor10 and the other of which is spaced rearwardly from the conveyor 10 andon the opposite side of the conveyor 11, so-that each pair of upright-s14 straddles .the conveyor 11. One such pair of uprights supports aframe indicated generally by the reference numeral 16 and the other pairof uprights supports a similar, but allochirally arranged, frame 17; andthe two frames are joined by beams 15, 15. Since .the two frames 16 and17 are identical but of opposite hand, only one will be describedv indetail.

the closed, square trackway 19.

As illustrated, a further trackway means, indicated generally by thereference numer-al 24, is arranged within the trackway 19; and thetrackway means 24 comprises upper and lower horizontal walls 25 land 26joined by front and rear vertical walls 27 and 28. The respective walls,25, 26, 27 and 28 are parallel with, and equally spaced from, thecorresponding walls 20', 21, 22 and 23 of the outer tr-ackway 19. In theillustrated form of the invention, the trackways 19 and 24 may be denedby the flanges of channel members secured to the backboard v18 andjoining each other in mitered or square joints.

Located on diagonals of the square trackways and at points equidistantfrom the center of the frame are four axles 29, 3l), 31 and 32 cach ofwhich provides a journal mounting for one of four sprockets 33, 34, 35and 36. A continuous chain 37 is trained about the said sprockets. Whilewe presently believe the chain and sprocket arrangement thus illustratedand described to be optimum, it will be apparent that alternatively someother form of flexible, continuous strand element might be trained abouta similar arrangement of some other form of wheels.

At one point in the length of the chain 37, an arm, indicated generallyby the reference numeral 38, is xedly secured thereto and preferably, asecond, similar arm 40 is similarly fixed to the chain 37 at a pointdiametrically opposite the arm 38. Each of the arms 38 and 40 is rigidlysecured at its proximal end to the chain so that the arm will alwaysextend inwardly in perpendicular relation to the chain throughout thetravel cycle of the chain, as will be explained in detail hereinafter.

At Va point spaced inwardly from the chain by a dimen- Vsion equal tothe radius which is common to all four sprockets, the distal end of thearm 40 carries an outwardly projecting journal stud 44. A square block45 is formed with a central bore 46 which receives the stud 3 44 wherebythe block is journal mounted on said arm 40. As is most clearly to beseen in FIGS. 2 and 3, each side length of the block is substantiallytwice the distance by which each of the axles 29, 30, 31 and 32 isspaced from the adjacent walls of the trackway 19. Friction-reducingmeans is preferably carried by the block 45, and in the illustratedembodiment of the invention, each corner of the block is recessed toreceive one of the rollers 47, 48, 49 and 50, said rollers beingsuitably journalled within said recesses as, for instance, by means ofjournal pins of the Character indicated in FIG. 5 by the referencenumeral 51.

Rigidly fixed to the outer face of the block 45, traversing the axis ofthe bore 46 and extending beyond the perimeter of the block is a bar 52.A similar bar 53 is similarly secured to the corresponding block of theframe 17, the parts being so arranged that, throughout travel of thechains of the two frames, those corresponding blocks are in horizontalregistry; and a pusher plate 54 is supported at its opposite ends,respectively, upon the bars 52 and 53. Desirably, the forward face ofthe pusher plate 54 is contoured, as shown, to provide separate socketsfor cooperative association with the several pieces of ware 12 which itwill encounter as it traverses the upper run of the conveyor 11. y v Theblock 55 is in all respects identical with the blockv 45 and isidentically carried by the arm 38. In turn, it supports a bar 56 which,in cooperation with the bar 57 carried by the corresponding block of theassembly 17, supports .a pusher plate 58 identical in construction andfunction with the pusher plate 54.

Means is provided, of course, for synchronously driving the chains 37 ofthe assemblies 16 and 17. As shown, the axle 29 extends rearwardlybeyond the backboard 18v and there carries a sprocket or gear 59, whichmay be referred to as an input element, to which power is delivered froma suitable source (not shown); and a similar input element 61B ismounted-on a similar axle element of the assembly 17 and is similarlydriven.

It will now be seen that, if the element 59 is driven in acounter-clockwise direction as viewed in FlG. 2, the axle 29 andsprocket 33 will be correspondingly driven, whereby the chain 37 will bedriven in a counter-clockwise direction to drive the other sprockets 34,35 and 36. It will be seen that, in the illustrated positions of theparts, the rollers 50 and 48 of the block 45 are in enegagement with thewall 23 of the trackway 19 and that the rollers 43 and 47 of said blockare in engagement with the wall 21 of that trackway. The roller 49, atthis moment, is not in contact with anything. Similarly, the rollers 61and63 of the block 55 are in contact with the wall 22, the rollers 63and 64 are in contact with the wall 20 and the roller 62 is not incontact with anything. As the chain 37 begins to move, the arm 3S willcarry the block 55 toward the left, thus removing the rollers 61 and 63from contact with the wall 22. Almost immediately, the roller 62 willengage the wall 25 of the trackway 24. At the same time, the block 45will begin to move toward the right, withdrawing the rollers 48 and 5t)from contact with the wall 23 and moving the roller 49 into contact withthe wall 26. Continuous engagement of the rollers 47 and 48 with thewall 21 during movement of the block 45 to the right will tend toprevent any rocking or change of rattitude of the block 45 about theaxis of the journal stud 44; and engagement of the roller 49 with thewall 26, followed shortly by engagement of the roller 50 with the wall26, will further steady the block. Thus, as the pusher plate 54,Adisposed `at a level just above the upper run of the conveyor 11,engages the ware 12, it will entrain that ware to move it steadilytoward the right off the conveyor 11 and onto the conveyor 10. lAs thestud 44 reaches coaxial relation with the axle 31, the rollers 47 and 49will come into engagement with the wall 22. At this moment, the arm 4t)is vertical. As the chain continues to travel in a counter-clockwisedirection about the sprocket 35, the proximal end of the arm 40 willtravel with the chain while the stud 44 remains stationary in coaxialassociation with the axle 31. During one-quarter turn of the sprocket35, then, the arm 40 will continue to turn bodily about the axis of thestud 44, while the block 45 remains stationary. When the arm 40 hasassumed a horizontal position, further travel of the chain will carrythe arm, and therefore the block 45, upwardly between the trackway walls22 and 27.

Meantime, the arm 38 has traveled until the journal stud on which itsblock 55 is mounted has come into coaxial relation with the axle 29, thearm has turned bodily about that axis, and as the block 45 startsupwardly, the block 55 will start downwardly.

It will be apparent that, each time a block reaches a corner of thetrackway, it will pause and will stand stationary while its arm turnsabout the axis of its journal stud, whereafter each block will continue`to move in a new direction. It will also be apparent that the pushedplates 54 and 58 will travel in a common, rectangular path, traversingthe upper run of the conveyor 11 in a forward direction and at a leveljust above the conveyor runto sweep the ware from the conveyor 11 ontothe conveyor 10, then rising to a level above the tops of the ware onthe conveyor 11, moving rearwardly to a point at the side of theconveyor remote from the conveyor 10, and then descending once more to alevel just above the upper run of the conveyor 11. The two pusher plateswill travel concurrently in this path, maintaining theirv spacing, andwithout interference with each other. p

It will be apparent that, in the absence of inhibiting means, the arms38 and 40 would exert racking stresses on the chain; and therefore whilein some instances the proximal ends of said arms may be supported solelyby said chain, we prefer to provide for external guidance therefor inaccordance with the following explanation.

At its proximal end, the arm 40,y is formed to provide an out-turned toe65 dimensioned to span the width of the chain 37 and terminating in anupturned bar 66 extending for a significant distance equally andvoppositely forwardly and rearwardly of the median line of the arm. Thetoe 65 bears against the outer surface ofone link of the chain, and therivets for that link extend through spaced perforations 67 in the armand registering perforations (not shown) in the bar 66 to secure the armto the chain.

The trailing end 68 of the bar 66 carries a roller 69 while the leadingend 70 of the bar carries a similar roller 71 offset outwardly from theplane of the roller 69.

Between the backboard 18 and the plane of travel ofV the chain 37, weprovide a series of rails 72 and 73 spaced apart to define a guidway 74which, throughout the major length of each side of the trackway 19, isrectilinear and of suiicient depth to accommodate both rollers 69 and71. At each corner of the trackway,` however, the guideway is speciallyformed in the manner perhaps most clearly illustratedin FIGS. 4 and 5. l

Beginning at the point 75 attained by the roller 71 at, the instant whenthe journal stud 44 reaches coaxial registry with, for instance, theaxle 30, the whole depth of the roller-guiding face of the rail 72 iscurved, as indicated at 76 upon a radius equal to the distance betweenthe axes of the stud 44 and the roller 71, to the point 77 which isattained by the roller 69 at the instant when the stud 44 is ready tomove away from registry with said axle. From the point 77 to the point7S attained by the4 roller 71 at its last-mentioned instant, the outerhalf only of the depth of said face of the rail 72 continues on the samecurvature, as indicated by the numeral 79. From the point 80attained-.by the roller 69 at the instant whenv the stud 44 reachescoaxiality with said axle, the inner half only of the depth of said faceis continued on the same curvature, as indicated at 81.

Thus, as the block 45 and its arm 40 move downward' ly between thesprockets 33 and 34, both rollers 69 and V 71 are conned by the rails 72and 73 to .rectilinear movement parallel with the chain 37 thusrestraining ,any tendency of the arm 40 to tilt about the axis of thehub 44 to exert a racking stress on the chain until the roller 71reaches the point 75, the roller 69 reaches the point `80 and the hub 44stops in ,coaxial relation to the axle 30. Now, as the chain 37continues to travel, the roller 71 enters the curved region 76 -whilethe roller 69 enters the vcurved region 8..1 Of the guideway 74. As the-roller 71 passes the point 77, it continues lthrough .the curved region79, while w,the ,roller 69 continues through ,the curved regions 8 1 and76 until, when the roller 71 reaches the point 78 whence it will beguided rectilinearly by the outer half of the depth of the guiding faceof the rail 72, the roller 69 will simultaneously reach the point 77whence it will be guided rectilinearly by the inner half of the depth ofthe guiding face of YVthe rail 72.

Thus, the path of the distal end of the arm 40 is afirmativelyestablished by the guideway 74 which prevents the transmission ofracking stress through the arm 40 to the chain 37. Similar means at eachcorner of the mechanism similarly controls the arm 40 in its passageabout each sprocket over which the chain 37 is trained; and the arm 38,being similarly constructed and arranged, is similarly controlled.

We claim as our invention:

1. In a device of the class described, a trackway dened by a pluralityof straight angularly related walls outlining a polygon, a plurality ofwheels equal in number to the angles of said polygon, each of saidwheels being mounted for rotation about an individual axis located on abisector of one of said angles, said axes being mutually parallel andall of said wheels being of the same diameter and located substantiallyin a common plane, a continuous flexible element drivingly trained aboutsaid wheels, an arm fixed to said iexible element, offset in parallelrelation to said common plane and projecting from said flexible elementinwardly with respect to said polygon, a block centrally journal mountedon said arm at a point spaced from said flexible element by a distanceequal to the common radius of said wheels, said block conforming incontour to said polygon but having radial dimensions substantially equalto the distance of said wheel axes from the adjacent walls of saidtrackway, and means for driving said flexible element circuitously aboutsaid trackway.

2. The device of claim 1 including a second trackway conforming incontour with said first-named trackway, disposed concentrically withinsaid first-named trackway and having its walls spaced from thecorresponding walls of said first-named trackway by a distancesubstantially equal to twice the radial dimension of said block.

3. The device of claim 2 including friction-reducing means carried bysaid block for engagement with the walls of said trackways.

4. The device of claim 1 including friction-reducing means carried bysaid block for engagement with the walls of said trackway.

5. The device of claim 1 including pusher means rigid-ly carried by saidblock and extending outwardly beyond the perimeter of said block.

6. In a device of the class described, a trackway defined by a pluralityof straight, angularly related walls outlining a polygon, a plurality-of wheels equal in number to the angles of said polygon, each of saidwheels being mounted for rotation abou-t an individual axis 1ocated on abisector of one of said angles, said axes being mutually Iparallel andall `of said wheels being of the same diameter and located substantiallyin a common plane, a continuous flexible element drivingly trained aboutsaid wheels, an arm operatively connected at its proxima-l end to saidflexible element, offset in parallel relation to said common plane andprojecting from said flexible element inwardly with respect to saidpolygon, a block centrally journal mounted on said arm near its distalend at a point spaced from said flexible element by a distance equal ytothe common radius of said wheels, said block conforming in contour tosaid polygon but having radial dimensions substantially equal to thedis- .tance of Asaid wheel `axes from the adjacent walls of saidtrackway, and means for driving said flexible element cir-cuitously`about said trackway, said arm having bar means at its proximal endextending forwardly ,and rearwardly therefrom, -a first roller carriedby the rearward extension of said bar means and offset from said commonplane in the direction opposite the offset of said arm, a second rollercarried by the forward extension -of said har means and offset to agreater degree from said common plane in said opposite direction, theaxes of said lrollers being parallel with each other and with the axesof said wheels and being equally spaced from said arm, and a guidewayfor said rollers generally paralleling said trackway but for-med toprovide, at each angle of said polygon, a rst arcuate path centered onthe adjacent wheel axis for said rst roller and a second and separate,longitudinally-advanced arcuate path centered on the same axis for saidsecond roller.

7. The device of claim 6 in which the forward end of said lirst arcuatepath overlaps the rearward end of said second arcuate path.

8. A lehr loader comprising, in combination with a first conveyor havingan upper, substantially horizontal run moving in a `first direction, asecond conveyor having an upper, substantially horizontal run traversingthe upper run of said first conveyor at a slightly higher level andmoving in a second direction transverse with respect to said firstdirection, and transfer means comprising two mutually facing,rectangular trackways spaced from each other in said second direction,located on opposite sides of said first conveyor and above said secondconveyor in substantially vertical planes, each trackway comprisinglower and upper horizontal, walls and front and rear vertical walls andsaid front walls being located alongside said rst conveyor and said rearwalls being located on the opposite side of said second conveyor, awheel located in each corner of each trackway for rotation about anindividual axis, the axis of rotation of each wheel of one trackwaybeing coincident with the axis of rotation of the corresponding wheel ofthe other trackway and the wheels of each trackway being disposedsubstantially in a common plane, a continuous exible element drivinglytrained about the Wheels of each trackway, an arm for each exibleelement, each such arm being fixed to its flexible element, offset in.parallel relation to said common plane and projecting from its flexibleelement inwardly with respect to its trackway, a square block centrallyjournal mounted on each arm at a point spaced from its ilexible elementby a distance equal to the common radius of said wheels, the sides ofeach block having lengths substantially equal to twice the distance ofeach wheel axis from the adjacent wal-ls of said trackway, a bar rigidlysecured to each block and extending beyond the perimeter thereof adistance substantially equal to the spacing of said lower horizontaltrackway walls above said second conveyor upper run, pusher lmeansjoining said bars, and means for driving said continuous flexibleelements synchronously in a direction to move said blocks, while incontact with their trackway lower walls, away from their trackway rearwalls toward their trackway front walls.

9. The lehr loader of claim 8 in which each block is provided withfriction-reducing means adjacent each of its corners, at least two ofsaid friction-reducing means being at all times in bearing contact withthe trackway for said block.

1t). The lehr loader of claim 8 including further trackway means foreach of said two trackways, each such further tra-ckway means includingan element paralleling the lower horizontal wall of its associatedtrackway and terminating at points respectively spaced from saidtrackway front and rear vertical walls by distances substantially equalto the length of a side of said block, whereby when said pusher means istraversing said second conveyor, each of said blocks has hearing uponthe lower horizontal wall of its trackway and upon sai-d element vof itssaid trackway means.

11. The lehr loader of claim 10 in which each block is provided withfriction-reducing means adjacent each of its corners, at least two ofsaid friction-reducing means being at all times in bearing contact withthe trackway for said block and two others of said frictionreducingmeans being in bearing contact with said trackway means element whileAsaid pusher means is traversing said second conveyor.

12. The lehr loader of claim 8 including, for each trackway, furthertrackway means conforming in contour to its associated trackway, eachsuch trackway 8 lmeans havingupper and lower horizontal walls and frontand rear vertical walls respectively spaced inwardly from thecorresponding walls of its associated trackway by a distancesubstantially equal to the length of a side of the associated block.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 861,383 7/1907MoOrShead l98-3L1 1,983,593 12/1934 Beeson et al. 198-3L1 2,781,1212/1957 Brandenberger 198-3l.l 3,040,867 6/1962 Posten et al l98--3l.1

EVON BLUNK, Primary Examiner.

SAMUEL F. COLEMAN, Examiner.

R. WALKER, Assistant Examiner'.

1. IN A DEVICE OF THE CLASS DESCRIBED, A TRACKWAY DEFINED BY A PLURALITYOF STRAIGHT ANGULARLY RELATED WALLS OUTLINING A POLYGON, A PLURALITY OFWHEELS EQUAL IN NUMBER TO THE ANGLES OF SAID POLYGON, EACH OF SAIDWHEELS BEING MOUNTED FOR ROTATION ABOUT AN INDIVIDUAL AXIS LOCATED ON ABISECTOR OF ONE OF SAID ANGLES, SAID AXES BEING MUTUALLY PARALLEL ANDALL OF SAID WHEELS BEING OF THE SAME DIAMETER AND LOCATED SUBSTANTIALLYIN A COMMON PLANE, A CONTINUOUS FLEXIBLE ELEMENT DRIVINGLY TRAINED ABOUTSAID WHEELS, AN ARM FIXED TO SAID FLEXIBLE ELEMENT, OFFSET IN PARALLELRELATION TO SAID COMMON PLANE AND PROJECTING FROM SAID FLEXIBLE ELEMENTINWARDLY WITH RESPECT TO SAID POLYGON, A BLOCK CENTRALLY JOURNAL MOUNTEDON SAID ARM AT A POINT SPACED FROM SAID FLEXIBLE ELEMENT BY A DISTANCEEQUAL TO THE COMMON RADIUS OF SAID WHEELS, SAID BLOCK CONFORMING INCONTOUR TO SAID POLYGON BUT HAVING RADIAL DIMENSIONS SUBSTANTIALLY EQUALTO THE DISTANCE OF SAID WHEEL AXES FROM THE ADJACENT WALLS OF SAIDTRACKWAY, AND MEANS FOR DRIVING SAID FLEXIBLE ELEMENT CIRCUITOUSLY ABOUTSAID TRACKWAY.